Safe
by Master-Magician
Summary: "I still feel safe." Making sure to move slowly so Ryn wouldn't be startled, Ben leaned down and planted a soft kiss to Ryn's knuckles. The gesture was perhaps a bit too intimate, but he could think of no other way to show Ryn what he meant, even if she may not understand the gesture.


**(EDIT 4/17/2018) Siren finally got it's own archive everybody!**

 **Imagine how I felt after watching the premire of Siren, only to shortly later discover not only was there no fanfiction for this great show.**

 **Then lo and behold I discover a single work written over on Archive of Our Own by storyskein (one that you should read if you hunger for Siren anything as much I do right now), and with it the discovery that yes, there is an archive for Siren, just buried.**

 **Storyskein's was similar to what I envisioned for this one so I did take some inspiration from theirs. Whereas theirs was more Maddie/Ryn, mine is Ben/Ryn. Honestly, I still can't decide between a two-person ship or a poly ship with all three, either way we'll see.**

 **Well, every fandom begins with one, so here goes number two.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

Until recently, Ben would have called his life anything but special. A well-paying job doing what he loved, an amazing girlfriend, and family troubles the likes of which anybody had. While life itself was good, it was ordinary, not that Ben ever complained. There was something to be said about a quiet life free from too much excitement.

Now? Now, life had gotten a lot more exciting. Whether that was good or bad was still up in the air and threatening to crash down to earth with the force of a meteor.

All because of Ryn.

Ben was honestly still trying to figure out how he felt about the whole thing. On the one hand, Ryn was an actual, living, mermaid. The kind of thing that Ben always thought existed only in legends and fairytales. As a marine biologist, just meeting her was the experience of three lifetimes.

On the other hand, Ryn did try to eat him. That would be a detriment of any kind of social relationship. Ben did his best to take the whole thing in stride, though. A potential hazard that was a small price to pay in order to learn more about Ryn and mermaids in general. Not for the first time, Ben wondered if this was how the first biologists to study sharks felt.

Speaking of Ryn… when on earth did she show up?

Ben had just finished taking a shower when he decided to look for something to drink. He pulled on his shirt while walking through his place like he often did, but once his head was through the garment, he was greeted with the sight of Ryn sitting on his couch. Either Ben was a lot less observant than he would have liked, or mermaids could be quite sneaky when they wanted to be.

"Ryn?" Ben just stared, brain trying to process his sudden guest's presence. "Everything alright? Shouldn't you be at Helen's?"

Ryn said nothing, as she often did, but at the sound of the older woman's name Ryn turned away some, her face shifting into a small scowl. Not quite one of anger, more like minor annoyance.

"What's wrong?" Ben took a seat at the other end of the couch.

Ryn turned back to face Ben again and opened her mouth but no words came out. Shortly after she closed it and made a face. That one, Ben, Maddie, and Helen had all become familiar with. Ryn wanted to say something but didn't know the words to voice it quite yet.

Ben sat there on the couch with her, waiting patiently for the mermaid to think. It didn't take long before she started moving her hands to talk. Ryn was a quick learner, but more often than not their conversations would devolve into an impromptu game of charades.

Ryn brought her wrists together but palms spread apart then she moved her fingers together tip to tip. She held her hands up for Ben to see but he wasn't quite sure what she meant.

"Eat? You hungry?" Ben took a shot in the dark.

Ryn answered with a shake of the head before looking around her. Picking up a spare quarter Ben had left on the end table, Ryn placed the coin on her palm and held her hands up again.

"Ryn." Ryn motioned to the quarter in the cage of her fing… cage!

"Cage?" Ben tried again. This time, Ryn's answer was a fierce nod. "You feel caged at Helen's?"

Another nod.

"But not here?"

Ryn stood back up to her feet and walked over to Ben's open window and pointed at the opening. Then she went to his front door and opened it. After making sure Ben could see her, Ryn walked outside and closed it behind her. Ben was about to go after her when she came back in once more closing it behind her. Once finished, Ryn pointed at the now sealed door.

"You can come and go as you please. Helen doesn't want you doing that." Ben's words were not a question. He remembered how Ryn had almost torn the doors from their hinges that time they back at Helen's shop.

Ryn moved her head up and down in agreement.

"Helen means well." Ben gave a sympathetic shrug. "She's not locking you up just to lock you up, she's just trying to keep you safe."

From the look on Ryn's face, she was not at all convinced, but at the same time curious. "Safe?"

"Safe, umm…" Ben thought for a few moments. "Someone is safe when they're away from anything that can harm them. A home is often a safe place, or a nest can be a safe place too." Ben wondered what constituted a 'home' for mermaids. Maybe when Ryn learned more words he might try asking her.

"Safe." Ryn pointed at the floor, then at the ceiling.

"Yeah, this is my home, so I feel safe here." Ben held his arms out as if to motion to the whole building.

Ryn shook her head yet again before pointing at herself. "Ryn, safe."

"You feel safe here?"

"Safe." Ryn reaffirmed with yet another nod.

Ben had to admit, he was astonished by that one. Sure, he did his best to be welcoming to the young mermaid, but he never really thought of his place as one that could be considered 'safe' by her standards. Who knew what mermaid standards were anyway?

"I'm… glad you think it's safe here, but what about Helen's?"

Ryn didn't answer with words, but with a soft hiss.

"Okay, point taken." Ben chuckled.

Just then, Ben noticed Ryn's state of dress. Helen had been trying to get the mermaid to were other clothes more often instead of the same thing again and again. Ryn wasn't too thrilled about the idea of clothes period, but learned early on their importance if she was going to blend in.

It would seem Helen had somehow managed to convince Ryn to take to wearing pajamas. Ben did have to admit, seeing Ryn in a pink nightgown just looked… wrong. Then again, of the three humans helping Ryn, Ben was the only one who had seen her in her true form underwater.

"Were you wanting to sleep over here?" Ben posed, though he figured he already knew the answer.

"Yes." Ryn responded a little more enthusiastic than Ben would have thought.

"Alright, but it's just the two of us tonight." It was far from the first time Ryn had spent the night at Ben's, but for some reason Ryn usually only wanted to do it when Ben and Maddie were both present. Ben always chalked it up to having two friendly faces nearby rather than one.

"Bed, sleep?" Ryn motioned to Ben's bed.

"Yeah, of course." Ben didn't have a problem with Ryn taking his bed. Thankfully, he had quite the comfy couch.

While Ryn disappeared into his bedroom area, Ben settled down to lay on the couch. It was a moderately warm evening, so he didn't need to bother with a blanket.

Ben's eyes were closed for a whole six seconds before he felt the presence looping over him. Cracking open one eye, he found Ryn kneeling beside him.

"Bed, sleep?" Ryn repeated those two words, but Ben already knew their meaning. It was a good thing the room was dim, otherwise he would have to see the sad, almost pleading look in her eyes. Either mermaids were too proud to bed, or Ryn didn't have the language skills to, but her big eyes more than made up the difference.

"Okay, okay." Ben sat up while Ryn went back to his bed. It always went like this whenever Ryn wanted to spend the night. Ben would happily fork over his bed and take the couch but Ryn would have none of it.

Upon arriving at his bed, Ben found Ryn already laying on top of the covers, hands folded across her middle. She was nowhere near asleep yet but seeing her laying on his bed in a pink nightdress was almost enough to make Ben forget she was an oceanic apex predator.

Ben moved himself under the bedcovers while Ryn scooted over to make room for him. Once Ben was situated in a position on his back mirroring Ryn, she moved back over. Their bodies were touching, but just barely, and the bedcovers still kept them separated. Evidently this was more than enough for Ryn.

The first time Ryn came to him asking to stay for the night while Maddie wasn't there, Ben hadn't been too keen on the idea of sharing the bed with the mermaid. Not to be cruel, but he did have a girlfriend and the whole thing didn't sit right with him. It took a quick nighttime phone call to Maddie to get Ben to go along with Ryn's desire.

Even now, Ben still clearly remembered Maddie's words. "You two are sharing a bed, not sleeping together. I trust you completely, and besides, she looks like she badly needs someone." If Maddie's faith and trust in him were so strong, Ben could do nothing but live up to her belief.

With nothing else left to think about, Ben tried to let himself relax and drift off to sleep. Of course, with the turn his life had taken recently, he should stop being surprised when things didn't end simply.

Ben's eyes were closed, but he could feel Ryn's body turn beside him. If Ben had learned anything about Ryn during these sleepovers, it was that she always slept on her back. If she was on her side, more than likely that meant she was looking at him.

Looks like sleep was going to have to wait a bit longer.

"Yes?" Ben took in a deep breath and spoke slowly, Ryn could becoming a little unpredictable when surprised.

Ryn gave no answer, but Ben felt her sit up and lean over him. When he opened his eyes, Ben found Ryn's face less than a foot away from his own, her expression seemingly examining his.

Once upon a time Ben would have been alarmed at her proximity, but Ryn had difficulty comprehending the concept of personal space and he had grown somewhat accustomed to her quirky behaviors. Sometimes it was easier to just go along with it.

"Safe?" Ryn touched her fingertips to Ben's chest.

"I'm safe, this is my home." Ben did his best to try to understand Ryn, but sometimes he was still thrown for a loop.

"No. You, safe, Ryn?" Ryn pointed at Ben again, followed by herself, as she spoke.

Try as he might, Ben was still not comprehending the point Ryn was trying to make.

A few alarm bells did start ringing when Ryn leaned in so close that the space between their faces was nothing more than a few inches. Ryn moved her hand higher up Ben's body but hesitated when it reached his collarbone.

With mermaid hearing being what it was, Ryn had to be able to hear the sound of Ben's heart hammering against his ribs. If she did, Ryn made no mention of it.

After a long pause, Ryn's fingertips trailed higher and higher up. Ben had to repress the shiver that passed through his body when her touch found bare skin. The mermaid didn't stop until her fingers found the side of Ben's neck. With a touch that was unnaturally gentle and soft, she ran her fingertips over the three matching cuts in Ben's flesh.

"You, safe, Ryn?" Ryn's eyes were wide with worry as her fingers traced the wounds once more.

Oh… oh!

How could Ben be so stupid? He should have realized what Ryn was asking a lot sooner.

"It's okay." Ben sat up, Ryn leaning back some to allow him to do so. "You weren't yourself at the time and didn't know me. I'm not mad at you."

A small traitorous part of Ben's mind told him that he certainly should be terrified of the mermaid in bed with him, but it was a small thing to shut that line of thinking down.

"May I?" Ben held his hand out and waited. It didn't take Ryn long to understand his request. Lifting her own hand, she allowed him to take hers.

Ben ran his thumb over Ryn's knuckles and looked over her hand. All in all, there was nothing out of the ordinary about it. It resembled a simple human hand. Ryn's nails were a little longer than a normal human, and she seemed to have some dirt beneath them constantly, but none of that was abnormal.

Thinking back to that night, the first night Ben saw Ryn's real form, he remembered the claws these hands turned into. He hadn't seen them all that well, but what he saw was enough. Razor sharp, able to tear through flesh with the ease of a hot knife through butter. Had Ben not been lucky that night, Ryn might have managed to cut his carotid artery and kill him right then and there.

Ben was no fool, he knew that deep beneath the surface those terrifying claws were still there. Ben was holding one in his hand right now. Just because something was hidden, didn't mean it wasn't there.

Yet, holding this masked deadly weapon in his hand, Ben didn't find himself feeling fear. He felt every bit as safe as he did before Ryn arrived tonight. Was this because of Ryn's nature as a mermaid, or was it Ben's trust in her? Either way, the answer was irrelevant.

"I still feel safe." Making sure to move slowly so Ryn wouldn't be startled, Ben leaned down and planted a soft kiss to Ryn's knuckles. The gesture was perhaps a bit too intimate, but he could think of no other way to show Ryn what he meant, even if she may not understand the gesture.

Next thing Ben knew, Ryn dropped back down to lay on her side facing him. Just before her face was out of sight, Ben caught sight of what might have been the tiniest of small smiles.

Ryn said no more than night, and it was late, Ben filed away the rest of his thoughts for later and resumed his quest for a decent night's sleep.

If Ryn curled so close that her body was pressing to Ben's side, he didn't bother mentioning it later.

* * *

 **That wound up a bit better than I had envisioned. I might do more, I haven't decided and plus I need to watch episode three. Leave a review please.**


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